In Cooking for Halflings & Monsters: 111 Comfy, Cozy Recipes for Fantasy-Loving Souls, Tolkien scholar Astrid Tuttle Winegar has created ’eleventy-one’ original recipes to inspire you. Lovingly illustrated and written with dry humor throughout, this charming cookbook is sure to delight you and your family, friends, and any other lucky halflings (or monsters) who show up in your kitchen. So crack open a beer, rustle up some “Gündürnüb’s Grüb,” and come along on this epic culinary journey. Your quest for delicious recipes is complete!The eight chapters of this cookbook each imagines a restaurant (inn, café, or bistro) which caters to particular archetypal characters in the fantasy genre and presents a delicious meal for them. But don’t worry—you don’t have to be a gourmet monster chef! You simply need to love comfort food to enjoy all the recipes within. “Halfling Hideaway” is the perfect cozy spot for characters small of stature, yet big of heart. Here, you can enjoy Stout & Sturdy Chicken & Dumplings, Six of One Half a Dozen Soup, and Nutty Honey Bars. “The Inn of the Doughty Hero” provides hearty food for the hero on the move. This is the place to bring your freshly acquired game and any sort of fruits or vegetables you’ve managed to forage during your journeys in the wild. Beery Beef Stew, Cress Composition, and Healing Chocolate Chai will fortify you for your next outing. For now, stay and eat—and you might consider washing your hair and clothes for a change… “Council Catering” helps you develop a sophisticated menu to help convince your heroes to risk their lives fulfilling dangerous quests. Order your impressive Celebration Cake here. “Quest Depot” is your one-stop shop for nutritious, more portable goodies to bring on your Seemingly Hopeless Enterprise. Cheesy pies and buttery cookies will help you survive those perilous road trips. “The Epic-Urean” caters to wizards, witches, and alchemists—characters who like a bit of danger and complexity in their meal preparations. You can dabble with Crackling Caramel Sauce, and enjoy the precision of Treasured Tidbits (sushi) and Sine Qua Non Chicken. “Glitnír’s Hall” serves wholly hearty food for dwarves; mushrooms and bacon are quite popular in this establishment. “Monstrous Morsels: The Hot Spot for Egregious Enemies” prepares surprisingly elegant food for trolls, orcs, goblins, and zombies. Monsters need comfort too, you know, and they will find it with dishes such as Fungus Liquid, Cold Dead Livid Bread, Chunks & Gobbets, and Must Eat Brain Food… Don’t worry—all the recipes in this restaurant come with more civilized names, so you can serve these dishes to people who don’t have warped senses of humor. “Nympha Nemorosa” prepares delicate treats for woodland elves and sylvan sprites. With delicious dishes such as Leeky Potato Soup, Sweet Sylvan Buns with Honey Almond Butter, and Marmalade Gems, you might decide just to stay at home for days at a time—cooking, baking, and reading The Lord of the Rings and all of the Chronicles of Narnia. Now, that sounds like an extremely pleasant way to spend some time!
